Our View: It’s not Rockford police union’s job to decide geopolicing

Sunday

Mar 3, 2013 at 12:01 AMMar 3, 2013 at 2:00 AM

Here’s part of a radio ad being run by the Rockford police union: “The administration wants to go to geographic policing. The Rockford Police Benevolent and Protective Association does not support this idea.

Here’s part of a radio ad being run by the Rockford police union:

“The administration wants to go to geographic policing. The Rockford Police Benevolent and Protective Association does not support this idea.

“Geographic policing requires more money and more officers, which are two things the city is lacking. In fact, the administration has outsourced some of the city’s caseload to area police agencies due to its shortage of manpower. The police rank and file wants Rockford to be progressive. The administration thinks this community policing plan would reduce crime. How would it make a difference when there aren’t enough officers? The question is, Rockford, do you want to pay for more buildings or more police officers on your streets?”

The union also has ads on television saying essentially the same thing. This Editorial Board has asked similar questions of the mayor about the cost of geopolicing and where the buildings will be.

One thing we do know, however: The Public Safety Building soon will be vacated by Winnebago County, leaving the city to pay for and remodel the badly designed, deteriorating building by itself. It’s not a good deal for taxpayers. The building should be torn down. The only thing historic about the PSB is that it’s a historic mistake.

Cooperating with other police agencies such as the Winnebago County Sheriff’s Department on joint policing is just common sense, especially when Rockford residents have to pay for both departments. We agree with Sheriff Dick Meyers, who suggests having the county patrol outer areas of the city so that the city police can concentrate on high-crime areas. This is good use of limited tax resources.

The mayor is trying to hire 20 officers. He says that if the union would be more flexible, bringing in more officers would be easier. The mayor also wants to go to 12-hour shifts, which would add to officers’ patrol time. Again, the union is skeptical.

Those are side points, however, to our main argument: The police union has no business telling Rockfordians what to do, where to do it, and how to staff their police department, especially when the mayor points out that 70 percent of the cops live outside the city of Rockford.

Most cops aren’t stakeholders in Rockford. They don’t pay taxes in Rockford. They don’t vote in Rockford. They think so little of Rockford that they don’t want their families here. So, what Rockfordians pay in taxes to support them is of absolutely no concern to them.

Rockford leaders, elected by Rockford residents, are the ones who should — and will — decide whether the city will have geopolicing or not. What Rockfordians owe to the police officers they employ is a fair contract with reasonable compensation. What the union does NOT get to do is run the entire police department.

After all, Rockfordians don’t get to run Roscoe, Rockton, Pecatonica, Durand, Stillman Valley or Winnebago. Why should residents of those towns get to tell Rockfordians what to do?